The Naledi3d Factory, a resident at The Innovation Hub in Pretoria, achieved a historic milestone in March this year when, in collaboration with UNESCO, its Interactive3d learning object material on how to build a pit-latrine was translated into Shona by Worldlinks in Harare.
The Shona version is the first one to be made available in an African language.
According to Naledi3d Factory MD, Dave Lockwood, previous Interactive3d learning object material had been translated into the more conventional European languages, such as French in Senegal (University of Dakar) and Portuguese in Mozambique (Eduardo Mondlane University). The same material will soon be available in Ndebele, Sotho and Shangaan.
The Naledi3d Factory has been building and testing educational tools that have shown strong potential for enhancing and advancing formal and non-formal education for rural and urban African learners. The concept of the Interactive3d learning object, which has evolved over the last three years, is now, through another recent project with UNESCO, turning into a reality.
The learning material combines virtual reality technologies with an emerging educational concept called the "learning object", which conveys a specific item of knowledge in an interactive, visual way that can be reused in different learning contexts.
Over the past year the project has expanded, creating a wider network of partners, a repository of digital knowledge blocks and a fully-fledged working product that demonstrates how Africa's educational needs can be met through linguistically and culturally relevant material. At its core are Pan-African network members who can change the text and audio language elements of the different learning objects to suit local communities in different countries. This also helps to preserve local languages.
Currently, network members include over a dozen organisations in 10 countries: Senegal, Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Solomon Islands, Rwanda and South Africa.
A Web site has been developed to store and share Interactive3d learning objects. The public can download the learning objects from the site, while network members can download and translate the material to suit local needs before reloading it to be shared by others. Currently the Web site offers beekeeping for emerging farmers, PC literacy (based on the ICDL) and the principles of basic hygiene (originally piloted at Nakaseke, Uganda in 2001 and now modified to follow the Interactive3d Learning Object framework).
For the Naledi3d Factory, the Interactive3d learning objects project has resulted in a medium- to long-term action plan to expand the network and increase the number of learning objects available to educators. This will include subjects such as rural development and agriculture with the WK Kellogg Foundation, industrial skills development, energy conservation, heritage and science and technology education.
For more information, contact Dave Lockwood at dlockwood@naledi3d.com or (012) 844 1010.
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